AI Robots Mock Verizon Customer in Sprint Super Bowl Spot

Creative agency Droga5 produced the video, which shows a scientist of sorts recording notes on the progress of Evelyn, an advanced AI robot with some shades of the film "Deus ex Machina" to her. Evelyn interrupts her creator after his smartphone sends a reminder that the bill is due.

"Doctor, I still don't understand why you have unlimited with Verizon," she says. "Why wouldn't you switch all your lines to Sprint? I've analyzed the data. Sprint's network reliability is less than a 1 percent difference than Verizon's, yet you choose to pay twice as much."

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The doctor's dumbfounded response—"I never thought of that"—sets Evelyn and her robotic peers to mercilessly laughing at their creator. Cut to the doctor in a Sprint store meeting former "Can you hear me now?" guy "Paul."

It's the second consecutive year that the teleco carrier worked with Droga5 for its Super Bowl spot, following last year's escape-your-contract pitch "Car."

Sprint says its latest commercial will air during the first quarter of the Super Bowl.

"We're pretty sure robots won't suffer from the same apathy and confusion people face when it comes to understanding wireless companies," David Droga, creative chairman and founder of Droga5, said in a statement. "And, as spokespeople, robots get to set on time, too."

Meanwhile, Verizon said last week that it's returning to the Super Bowl after a seven-year hiatus, but has remained mum on the details. T-Mobile has yet to confirm that whether will return to this year's game, but has been a regular there; last year its quartet of spots included Justin Bieber in "#UnlimitedMoves," Kristen Schaal in "#Punished" and Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg in "Bag of Unlimited."

In 2017, Sprint spent $1.4 billion in overall media, according to Kantar.